Lesbians choosing motherhood: A comparative study of lesbian and heterosexual parents and their children.

Compared 15 lesbian couples and the 3- to 9-yr-old children born to them through donor insemination with 15 matched, heterosexual-parent families. A variety of assessment measures were used to evaluate the children's cognitive functioning and behavioral adjustment as well as the parents' relationship quality and parenting skills. Results revealed no significant differences between the 2 groups of children, who also compared favorably with the standardization samples for the instruments used. In addition, no significant differences were found between dyadic adjustment of lesbian and heterosexual couples. Only in the area of parenting did the 2 groups of couples differ; lesbian couples exhibited more parenting awareness skills than did heterosexual couples. The implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Donor insemination: child development and family functioning in lesbian mother families

Findings are presented of a comparative study investigating the family relationships and the emotional and gender development of children raised in lesbian mother families. A total of 30 lesbian mother families with 4-8 year old children created as a result of donor insemination (DI) were compared with 38 heterosexual families with a DI child and with 30 heterosexual families who had a naturally conceived child. A variety of assessment measures, including a standardized interview and questionnaires from the parents and psychological testing of the child were used to collect the data. The quality of the couples' relationships and the quality of the mother-child interaction did not differ between lesbian mother families and either of the heterosexual family groups. The quality of the interaction between the social mother and the child in lesbian families was superior to that between the father and the child in both groups of heterosexual families. Childrens' own perception of their parents was similar in all family types; the social mother in lesbian families was regarded by the child to be as much a 'parent' as the father in both types of heterosexual families. With regard to their emotional/behavioural development, boys and girls raised in lesbian mother families were well adjusted and their gender role development did not differ from that of children raised in heterosexual families. These results indicate that child and family development in lesbian mother families is similar to that of heterosexual families.     

Clinical Issues in Working With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients.

This article discusses some of the key clinical issues for therapists to consider when working with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. After a discussion of the biases that can influence psychotherapy, guidelines are given for conducting LGB-affirmative therapy that avoids these biases. Issues that therapists need to be familiar with in working with LGB clients include LGB identity development; couple relationships and parenting; LGB individuals as members of families; the unique stressors faced by individuals who are underrepresented in the LGB research literature (e.g., older LGB individuals, ethnic minorities, religious LGB individuals, bisexual individuals); and legal and workplace issues. An examination of the published literature is offered with particular emphasis given to the available empirical research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining Redding's (2001) claims about lesbian and gay parenting.

Comments on the article by R. E. Redding (see record 2001-00465-001) which discusses pluralism and sociopolitical diversity in psychology and argues that conservatives and their views are "vastly underrepresented in psychology". As an example of research that has been tainted by liberal biases, Redding points to various methodological issues occurring in research supporting gay and lesbian parenting. The current author addresses these issues, stating that Redding's arguments regarding gay and lesbian parenting as an example of research fraught with liberal biases are weak. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do parents influence the sexual orientation of their children? Findings from a longitudinal study of lesbian families.

Findings are presented of a longitudinal study of the sexual orientation of adults who had been raised as children in lesbian families. Twenty-five children of lesbian mothers and a control group of 21 children of heterosexual single mothers were first seen at age 9.5 years on average, and again at age 23.5 years on average. Standardized interviews were used to obtain data on sexual orientation from the young adults in the follow-up study, and on family characteristics and children's gender role behavior from the mothers and their children in the initial study. Although those from lesbian families were more likely to explore same-sex relationships, particularly if their childhood family environment was characterized by an openness and acceptance of lesbian and gay relationships, the large majority of children who grew up in lesbian families identified as heterosexual (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting intentions and desires among childless lesbian, gay, and heterosexual individuals.

Parenthood is one of the most universal and highly valued experiences of American adults. However, lesbian and gay adults in the United States are much less likely than heterosexual adults to be parents. Our goal was to explore the reasons why this is the case. Using nationally representative data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), we studied parenting intentions, desires, and attitudes of childless lesbian, gay, and heterosexual individuals 15 to 44 years of age. We found that gay men and lesbian women were less likely than matched heterosexual peers to express desire for parenthood. Moreover, gay men who expressed desire to become parents were less likely than heterosexual men to express the intention to become parents; this was not true for women. Despite being less likely to express parenting desires, gay and lesbian participants endorsed the value of parenthood just as strongly as did heterosexual participants. By exploring the psychology of family formation as a function of sexual orientation, these results inform ongoing debates about sexual orientation and parenthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lesbian mothers who conceived after donor insemination: a follow-up study

This study investigated the development of family relationships in lesbian families who conceived after donor insemination (DI). The main characteristics of this unknown family structure were analysed. An anonymous donor was used to conceive, the family unit consisted of two mothers and a father was non-existent, and both women had a homosexual orientation. A total of 50 lesbian couples who conceived after DI with children aged between 1 and 2 years participated in this study, using a standardized interview created for this study. After the birth of their child, 56% of the lesbian mothers (n = 100) would have wanted the identity of the donor to be registered, while 10% would have done so at the time of the insemination. Opinions differed in 12 of the 50 couples: the biological mother was in favour of identity registration while the social mother was not. Both women considered themselves a parent of the child with equally shared responsibilities. Mothers were open about the special features of their family structure with children and within their immediate social network. Only 30% disclosed their lesbian identity in a broader social environment. The features of these newly created families may influence the psychological development of the children and therefore make long-term follow-up studies indispensable.     

Parenting and the socialization of religiousness and spirituality.

This study examined parenting style dimensions as moderators of relations between family religiousness and individual religiousness and spirituality. Participants were 122 emerging adults ages 17–31 (M = 20.90, SD = 2.75). Cross-sectional data were obtained through an online survey. Participants rated the frequency with which they engaged in various religious activities with their families when they were younger, the frequency with which they personally do those behaviors currently, their current spirituality, and the parenting styles used by their parents when they were younger. Family religiousness positively predicted individual religiousness and spirituality. Rejection and autonomy-support moderated the association between family religiousness and individual religiousness, while warmth, rejection, structure, chaos, and autonomy-support moderated the relationship between family religiousness and individual spirituality. Thus, religious beliefs and practices, at whatever level, may be more readily appropriated by the next generation in families characterized by authoritative parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting practices as predictors of substance use, delinquency, and aggression among urban minority youth: Moderating effects of family structure and gender.

This study examined how parenting factors were associated with adolescent problem behaviors among urban minority youth and to what extent these relationships were moderated by family structure and gender. 228 6th grade students reported how often they use alcohol, smoke cigarettes, or engage in aggressive or delinquent behaviors; a parent or guardian reported their monitoring and other parenting practices. Findings indicated that boys and those from single-parent families engaged in the highest rates of problem behavior. More parental monitoring was associated with less delinquency overall, as well as less drinking in boys only. Eating family dinners together was associated with less aggression overall, as well as less delinquency in youth from single-parent families and in girls. Unsupervised time at home alone was associated with more smoking for girls only. Implications for prevention interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A preliminary study of parental stress and child behaviour in families with twins conceived by in-vitro fertilization

This paper reports on a preliminary study of parenting quality, parental stress and child behaviour in families with twins conceived by in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in comparison with families with naturally conceived twins. No differences were found between the types of family in parenting quality or child behaviour. However, parents whose children were conceived by IVF reported greater stress associated with parenting than parents with naturally conceived twins.     

Helping military families through the deployment process: Strategies to support parenting.

Recent studies have highlighted the impact of deployment on military families and children and the corresponding need for interventions to support them. Historically, however, little emphasis has been placed on family-based interventions in general, and parenting interventions in particular, with returning service members. This article provides an overview of research on the associations between combat deployment, parental adjustment of service members and spouses, parenting impairments, and children's adjustment problems. We provide a social interaction learning framework for research and practice to support parenting among military families affected by a parent's deployment. We then describe the Parent Management Training-Oregon model (PMTO), a family of interventions that improves parenting practices and child adjustment in highly stressed families, and briefly present work on an adaptation of PMTO for use with military families (After Deployment: Adaptive Parenting Tools, or ADAPT). The article concludes with PMTO-based recommendations for clinicians providing parenting support to military families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support and the quality of parenting under economic pressure and workload in Finland: The role of family structure and parental gender.

This study focused on how factors outside the home affect the quality of mothering and fathering. Economic pressure and workload were evaluated along with the compensating role of social support on parenting. Information was gathered from 842 mothers and 573 fathers including 139 single-mother and 21 single-father families. The results showed that the nature of the strains, together with parental gender and family structure, influenced their effects on parenting. The results further revealed some gender- and strain-specific protective functions of social support on parenting. For example, economic pressure was related to increased punitive parenting, which was compensated by instrumental and emotional support among the mothers. Workload was related to less authoritative single fathering, which was compensated by instrumental support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children of lesbian and gay parents: Psychology, law, and policy.

Legal and policy questions relevant to the lives of lesbian and gay parents and their children have recently been subjects of vigorous debate. Among the issues for which psychological research has been seen as particularly relevant are questions regarding child custody after divorce, same-sex marriage, adoption, and foster care. This article provides an overview of the current legal terrain for lesbian and gay parents and their children in the United States today, an overview of relevant social science research, and some commentary on the interface between the two. It is concluded that research findings on lesbian and gay parents and their children provide no warrant for legal discrimination against these families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting in context: Systemic thinking about parental conflict and its influence on children.

R. L. Fauber and N. Long's (see record 1992-43921-001) overview of research on family therapy with children is a valuable integration of the literatures on the family correlates of and treatments for childhood disorders. Several concerns apply to some of the influence Fauber and Long draw from risk research, however. Their assertion that various sources of family distress have effects that are mediated primarily through parenting is questionable, as is their suggestion that parenting therefore is the appropriate focus of family treatment. The conceptual issues of reductionism, linearity, holism, and change in defining causality are discussed in questioning these conclusions about etiology and treatment. Other empirical and methodological issues are raised briefly, particularly as they relate to statistical models of direct and indirect influences and to the body of correlational and analog research on how parental conflict influences children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving parenting in families referred for child maltreatment: A randomized controlled trial examining effects of Project Support.

Project Support is an intervention designed to decrease coercive patterns of aggressive discipline and increase positive parenting. This research evaluates Project Support in a sample of families reported to Children's Protective Services (CPS) for allegations of physical abuse or neglect; 35 families with a child between 3- and 8-years-old participated. In all families, CPS allowed the children to remain in the family home while the family received services. Families were randomly assigned to receive either Project Support or services as usual, which were provided by CPS or CPS-contracted service providers. To evaluate intervention effects, a multimethod, multi-informant assessment strategy was used that included data from mothers' reports, direct observation of parents' behavior, and review of CPS records for re-referrals for child maltreatment. Families who received Project Support services showed greater decreases than families who received services as usual in the following areas: mothers' perceived inability to manage childrearing responsibilities, mothers' reports of harsh parenting, and observations of ineffective parenting practices. Only 5.9% of families in the Project Support condition had a subsequent referral to CPS for child maltreatment, compared with 27.7% of families in the comparison condition. The results suggest that Project Support may be a promising intervention for reducing child maltreatment among families in which it has occurred. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping and parenting: Mediators of 12-month outcomes of a family group cognitive–behavioral preventive intervention with families of depressed parents.

Objective: In a randomized clinical trial with 111 families of parents with a history of major depressive disorder (86% mothers, 14% fathers; 86% Caucasian, 5% African-American, 3% Hispanic, 1% American Indian or Alaska Native, 4% mixed ethnicity), changes in adolescents' (mean age = 11 years; 42% female, 58% male) coping and parents' parenting skills were examined as mediators of the effects of a family group cognitive–behavioral preventive intervention on adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Method: Changes in hypothesized mediators were assessed at 6 months, and changes in adolescents' symptoms were measured at a 12-month follow-up. Results: Significant differences favoring the family intervention compared with a written information comparison condition were found for changes in composite measures of parent–adolescent reports of adolescents' use of secondary control coping skills and direct observations of parents' positive parenting skills. Changes in adolescents' secondary control coping and positive parenting mediated the effects of the intervention on depressive, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms, accounting for approximately half of the effect of the intervention on the outcomes. Further, reciprocal relations between children's internalizing symptoms and parenting were found from baseline to 6-month follow-up. Conclusion: The present study provides the first evidence for specific mediators of a family group cognitive–behavioral preventive intervention for families of parents with a history of major depressive disorder. The identification of both coping and parenting as mediators of children's mental health outcomes suggests that these variables are important active ingredients in the prevention of mental health problems in children of depressed parents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting and academic socialization as they relate to school readiness: The roles of ethnicity and family income.

Relationships between parenting and children's school readiness were examined within socioeconomically comparable samples of African American and Euro-American kindergarten children, mothers, and teachers. The moderating role of family income and ethnicity for the relationships between parenting behaviors, parental expectations, and school involvement and children's early school performance were also examined. Although there were many similarities across ethnic groups in the relationships between parenting and school performance, family income moderated the relationship between parenting behaviors and prereading scores: Parenting had a much stronger relationship with prereading performance for lower income families than for higher income families. Ethnicity moderated the relationships between parental school involvement and children's premath performance. Implications of these findings for prevention and intervention programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of parental traumatic brain injury on the behaviour of parents and children

Little is known about the effects of a parent's brain injury and subsequent disabilities on the children in the family. This study examines 24 families in which one parent is brain injured. In each family the children were born before the parent's injury and still lived at home at the time of interview. Reports of the uninjured parent indicate that most of the children experienced some degree of negative behavioural change after the parent's injury. In 10 of the families, significant and problematic changes occurred. Types of problems included poor relationship with the injured parent, acting-out behaviour and emotional problems. Correlates of poor outcomes for the children were: (1) injured parent's gender, (2) compromised parenting performance of the injured parent, (3) compromised parenting performance of the uninjured parent and (4) depression in the uninjured parent. This study points to the importance of recognizing traumatic brain injury as a major family stressor.     

The forgotten parent: understanding the forces that influence incarcerated fathers' relationships with their children

Fathers who are in prisons and jails are not just convicts--they are parents as well. The family roles and responsibilities of incarcerated fathers, however, are seldom the focus of institutional policies, scholarly research, or child welfare services. This article examines the issues that must be addressed in designing policies and providing services that promote the maintenance of parent-child bonds and responsible parenting when fathers are incarcerated. It describes the family roles and structures of men in prison and looks at differences between public perceptions and the real-life experiences of prisoner parents. The ways in which correctional policies and child welfare practices influence and shape fathers' parenting abilities and father-child relationships are discussed, and strategies for creating a supportive environment for fathers and their children and families are proposed.